“There’s more to be discovered — if we want to know, and we do,” he says. “There’s money to be made in the victims’ stories — the ‘he says this; she says that’ stories, the contradictions. We’d like to see a bit of redemption, but only a bit; we want the story to go on for a while.

“It would be boring if he wins and we sign off on everything he’s done. Everybody loves a saga.

“You know, when you work with recovering addicts, you tell them not to do anything drastic for a year. Tiger’s had, what, four or five months? That’s atypical.”

But so is Tiger Woods.

Powell believes those allowed within Tiger’s inner circle had to know what he was up to.

“Inconceivable,” he says. “Most people don’t know how complicated an affair is. There are a lot of logistics involved. You’re not just living one life. It would be hard for him not to have help.

Watching the few mea culpas Tiger’s had since the Thanksgiving incident at his Florida home that opened this worm’s particular can, Powell believes Woods has been sincere — or about as sincere as he can appear to be.

“It was controlled, but he seemed sincere,” he says. “Now, what’s taboo? You set standards for yourself and monitor it with a rigorous honesty, being honest with yourself or a sponsor. You see where you’re pushing the envelope and tell yourself you’re out of bounds. You can have as much sex as you like — with your partner.”

What we don’t know is how all this will affect Woods’ game, if he can block it out. After his father’s death in 2006, he had a rough go of it for a while. Nor will we know, until he plays, if he can control his on-course temper.

“In golf, you can’t rely on your teammates,” Powell says. “In some games, you have an instant to react, like a cornerback in football. In golf, there’s too much time to think, which is why people play golf a lot better when they can finish a round in three hours.

“After his father died, he came back in the British and missed the cut, although he had a tough break with the weather. But I think he surprised himself how much emotion he let go.”